Re: MCG AboveBoard Newsletter Vol.2 Num.5/ 4. Mitsubishi PLCC EEPROM Availability

[winans@aps.anl.gov]

FYI --
Watch the followup addresses on these emails... they have all been going
to the AboveBoard newsletter mailing list.  I removed it and replaced it
with the EPICS tech-talk list.


Bill Brown (wbrown@csg.lbl.gov) Writes:
>I hope you'll excuse what's probably a dumb question - all of the mv167s
>we've bought had UV-eraseable proms - or at least the earlier boards did.
>
>They were Mitsubishi M5M27C202JK chips, I believe.  Are these also being
>discontinued?  Seems like we've had trouble buying them.
>
>We typically run vxWorks on our boards, and were re-using the eproms.

Bob Galbreth (bob@chg.mcd.mot.com) Writes:
>I hate to say absolutely since I don't work for Mitsubishi but I have
>heard this from some of my customers.  Perhaps contacting Mitsubishi
>or one of their distributors may give you the final word on this.
>
>We (MCG) and the customers I deal with directly are making the move to
>One-time programmable parts.  The days of reusing PLCC EEPROMS seem 
>to be over (unless you've built up a large stash).
>
>Thank goodness all of our newer boards are being designed with FLASH
>memory on them.

Bob Dalesio (dalesio@luke.atdiv.lanl.gov) Writes:
>Sorry - but I don't know. Winans may be able to answer your
>question. He has followed the 167's more closely than he cares
>to.

The OTP PLCCs are new news to me for the mv167.  No suprise, however,
since that is what have been shipping on the mv162s for a long time.

I have been planning on pushing the FLASH based boards for future EPICS
purchases.  I will recommend that APS purchase one ASAP so that it can
be tested and a procedure documented for the EPICS community as to how
to program our current EPROM image into the FLASH.  [If it is anything
like the mv162, the programming is pretty simple, the hard part is
getting the binary image onto the board so that it can be copied into
the FLASH.]

--John